Marine Girl: Lazy Ways & Beach Party

Ahh, the halycon days of post-punk, when jazz-inflected quiet started to be the new loud before bands such as Kings of Convenience were out of nappies. Marine Girls are now best known for two things: one is that one of the original members was Tracey Thorn, who went on to co-found Everything But The Girl and to become a best-selling author; the other is that their debut album, Beach Party (1982), was one of Kurt Cobain's favourite records. The reason for their enduring appeal is obvious – both Beach Party and its 1983 follow-up, Lazy Ways, drift along similar lines to Young Marble Giants and The Raincoats. From a distance of more than 30 years, some of the tunes buckle a bit under the weight of earnest introspection, but there are balancing measures of purity and poignancy here, too.

Download: Leave me with the Boy, Flying over Russia, Promises